Here's one liberal who'd like to thank (Lord help me through this) Al Sharpton.

It’s hard to believe that of all the speakers at the Dem convention, he’s the only one willing to show any fire for the cause. In what’s been a series of bland and lifeless speeches and speakers, it took someone who I have hardly any respect for, and with whom I would rarely agree, to tap into the heart of what it means to me to be a liberal.

All was good on the campaign trail, too, and he added a lot to the debates. Language is his thing, not, probably, governance.

I have to disagree about the speeches, though. While they may not be fiery, they are coming from the perspective of old-school liberalism. Kerry has assembled a group of speakers who are setting the table for a very different kind of discussion than we've been having since 1980.

I don't know that it's possible to have 20 hours of speeches and not find something to criticize. The meme is "lifeless." But there was going to be a meme. Dean? A little too much life, they said.

The amazing thing about Sharpton is that his comments, while fiery, were actually really careful. He didn't give the right much ammo at all.

Sharpton's only mistake, imho, was the crack about how if Bush had appointed the Supreme Court prior to Brown v. Board of Education, Clarence Thomas would never have become a lawyer. Now, to me, it's a good crack. But it was extraneous. It was also not in the script, for whatever that's worth (not surprising, because the DNC would have killed it). But as a good example of escaping the clutches of DNC message control, just about the entirety of the final third of Sharpton's speech was off-script, and that was the best part of his speech.

I sort of hope he doesn't take a cabinet post, if it is in the offing. I'd prefer to have him in the senate--he's actually quite conservative, but he's a straight shooter. As Kerry (I should say if) Kerry is going to be successful, he'll need to manage a hostile or closely divided senate. I think Biden's a good guy to have in there.

"Clarence Thomas has lived a life riddled with irony and contradictions. Although he has opposed racial preference and affirmative action programs, he nonetheless benefited from them. As a young student, Thomas entered the College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit institution in Massachusetts, after the school began a black recruitment program. Thomas was the beneficiary of a similar minority program a few years later at Yale Law School. As a young lawyer, Thomas aimed at a career outside the ambit of civil rights. However, for his effort, he earned appointment as the heard of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. " www.oyez.org

Note I am not saying that Thomas would not have gotten into law school but for affirmative action. Just pointing out that he likely did benefit from affirmative action. Heck, Sandra Day O'Connor said: "But, Nino (Scalia), if it weren't for affirmative action, I wouldn't be here."

To Republicans in Congress and in state capitals across the country: It's time to refuse the NRA's support and their money. And donations received in the past should be donated to organizations supporting the survivors of gun violence.